Efficiency of automatic analyses of fish passages detected by an acoustic camera using Sonar5-Pro

The acoustic camera is a non-intrusive method increasingly used to monitor fish populations. Acoustic camera data are video-like, providing information on fish behaviour and morphology helpful to discriminate fish species. However, acoustic cameras used in long-term monitoring studies generate a large amount of data, making one of the technical limitations the time spent analysing data, especially for multi-species fish communities. The specific analysis software provided for DIDSON acoustic cameras is problematic to use for large datasets. Sonar5-Pro, a popular software in freshwater studies offers several advantages due to its automatic tracking tool that follows targets moving into the detection beam and distinguishes fish from other targets. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of Sonar5-Pro for detecting and describing fish passages in a high fish diversity river in low flow conditions. The tool's accuracy was assessed by comparing Sonar5-Pro outputs with a complete manual analysis using morphological and behavioural descriptors. Ninety-eight percent of the fish moving into the detection beam were successfully detected by the software. The fish swimming direction estimation was 90% efficient. Sonar5-Pro and its automatic tracking tool have great potential as a database pre-filtering process and decrease the overall time spent on data analysis but some limits were also identified. Multi-counting issues almost doubled the true fish abundance, requiring manual operator validation. Furthermore, fish length of each tracked fish needed to be manually measured with another software (SMC). In conclusion, a combination of Sonar5-Pro and SMC software can provide reliable results with a significant reduction of manpower needed for the analysis of a long-term monitoring DIDSON dataset

The ArT\'eMiS wide-field submillimeter camera: preliminary on-sky performances at 350 microns

ArTeMiS is a wide-field submillimeter camera operating at three wavelengths simultaneously (200, 350 and 450 microns). A preliminary version of the instrument equipped with the 350 microns focal plane, has been successfully installed and tested on APEX telescope in Chile during the 2013 and 2014 austral winters. This instrument is developed by CEA (Saclay and Grenoble, France), IAS (France) and University of Manchester (UK) in collaboration with ESO. We introduce the mechanical and optical design, as well as the cryogenics and electronics of the ArTeMiS camera. ArTeMiS detectors are similar to the ones developed for the Herschel PACS photometer but they are adapted to the high optical load encountered at APEX site. Ultimately, ArTeMiS will contain 4 sub-arrays at 200 microns and 2x8 sub-arrays at 350 and 450 microns. We show preliminary lab measurements like the responsivity of the instrument to hot and cold loads illumination and NEP calculation. Details on the on-sky commissioning runs made in 2013 and 2014 at APEX are shown. We used planets (Mars, Saturn, Uranus) to determine the flat-field and to get the flux calibration. A pointing model was established in the first days of the runs. The average relative pointing accuracy is 3 arcsec. The beam at 350 microns has been estimated to be 8.5 arcsec, which is in good agreement with the beam of the 12 m APEX dish. Several observing modes have been tested, like On-The-Fly for beam-maps or large maps, spirals or raster of spirals for compact sources. With this preliminary version of ArTeMiS, we concluded that the mapping speed is already more than 5 times better than the previous 350 microns instrument at APEX. The median NEFD at 350 microns is 600 mJy.s1/2, with best values at 300 mJy.s1/2. The complete instrument with 5760 pixels and optimized settings will be installed during the first half of 2015.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures. Presented at SPIE Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy VII, June 24, 2014. To be published in Proceedings of SPIE Volume 915

Analysis of the Atlantic salmon migration dynamic (Salmo salar L.) on two rivers of the Mont-Saint-Michel Bay using hydroacoustic devices

Le saumon atlantique (Salmo salar) est une espèce tant emblématique que menacée à l’échelle internationale, au même titre que la plupart des espèces de poissons diadromes. La présence de barrages, en entraînant une rupture de la continuité écologique des cours d’eau, participe à ce déclin. Le remplacement du barrage en porte à flot sur l’estuaire du Couesnon (Normandie, France) par un barrage procédant à des lâchers d’eau à l’étale de basse mer, est susceptible d’impacter l’abondance et la dynamique migratoire des saumons. Pour étudier les remontées de saumons adultes sur ce fleuve, un échosondeur à faisceau partagé a été installé en amont du barrage et a enregistré en continu tous les passages de saumons lors des périodes estivales de 2010 à 2014. L’hydroacoustique, méthode non intrusive et indépendante des conditions de turbidité de l’eau, permet l’acquisition d’informations difficilement accessibles par d’autres techniques. Pour évaluer la réelle influence du barrage sur les migraticours d’eau voisin dont l’estuaire est libre, à l’aide d’un outil hydroacoustique bénéficiant de larges innovations technologiques, une caméra acoustique DIDSON. Les méthodologies développées soulignent les avantages et les limites des deux outils, mettant en lumière le gain d’information apporté par les caméras acoustiques. L’interprétation des résultats met en évidence que si le fonctionnement du barrage n’impacte pas le maintien de la population sur ce fleuve, la dynamique migratoire des saumons y est modifiée. Cette étude souligne les grandes capacités d’adaptation des saumons atlantiqueThe Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) is as emblematic as in a global decline, as most of the diadromous fish species. Dams have direct consequences on the river ecological continuity and indirect effects, such as the modification of the hydrological and hydrosedimentary dynamics which affects these populations. In Normandy (France), the Couesnon River’s estuary flood-gate dam has recently been replaced by a new dam proceeding to water releases at low tide stall. This functioning may decrease the salmon abundance or disturb their migration dynamic on this river. To study the dam influence, a split-beam echosounder has been settled upstream the dam and has recorded Philippe BOëTpermanently the salmon migrations during the summer period from 2010 to 2014. The hydroacoustic methods, non-intrusive and independent from the turbidity conditions, provide useful information, neither available nor quantifiable with other existing monitoring technics. To evaluate the disturbance of the estuarine damthe migration dynamic of the same species has also been monitored on a nearby river, the Sélune River, whose estuary is free-flowing. The hydroacoustic tool settled on this river, a DIDSON, belongs to the acoustic camera generation and benefits from recent technological improvements. The defined methodologies highlight the advantages and limits of both tools, revealing the information gain brought by the acoustic cameras. A dam functioning influence on the Atlantic salmon migration has been revealed, but no negative impact has been described on the salmon annual recruitment level. This stud

Utilisation de deux outils hydroacoustiques pour analyser la dynamique migratoire du saumon atlantique (Salmo salar L.) dans deux fleuves de la baie du Mont-Saint-Michel

The Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) is as emblematic as in a global decline, as most of the diadromous fish species. Dams have direct consequences on the river ecological continuity and indirect effects, such as the modification of the hydrological and hydrosedimentary dynamics which affects these populations. In Normandy (France), the Couesnon River’s estuary flood-gate dam has recently been replaced by a new dam proceeding to water releases at low tide stall. This functioning may decrease the salmon abundance or disturb their migration dynamic on this river. To study the dam influence, a split-beam echosounder has been settled upstream the dam and has recorded Philippe BOëTpermanently the salmon migrations during the summer period from 2010 to 2014. The hydroacoustic methods, non-intrusive and independent from the turbidity conditions, provide useful information, neither available nor quantifiable with other existing monitoring technics. To evaluate the disturbance of the estuarine damthe migration dynamic of the same species has also been monitored on a nearby river, the Sélune River, whose estuary is free-flowing. The hydroacoustic tool settled on this river, a DIDSON, belongs to the acoustic camera generation and benefits from recent technological improvements. The defined methodologies highlight the advantages and limits of both tools, revealing the information gain brought by the acoustic cameras. A dam functioning influence on the Atlantic salmon migration has been revealed, but no negative impact has been described on the salmon annual recruitment level. This studyLe saumon atlantique (Salmo salar) est une espèce tant emblématique que menacée à l’échelle internationale, au même titre que la plupart des espèces de poissons diadromes. La présence de barrages, en entraînant une rupture de la continuité écologique des cours d’eau, participe à ce déclin. Le remplacement du barrage en porte à flot sur l’estuaire du Couesnon (Normandie, France) par un barrage procédant à des lâchers d’eau à l’étale de basse mer, est susceptible d’impacter l’abondance et la dynamique migratoire des saumons. Pour étudier les remontées de saumons adultes sur ce fleuve, un échosondeur à faisceau partagé a été installé en amont du barrage et a enregistré en continu tous les passages de saumons lors des périodes estivales de 2010 à 2014. L’hydroacoustique, méthode non intrusive et indépendante des conditions de turbidité de l’eau, permet l’acquisition d’informations difficilement accessibles par d’autres techniques. Pour évaluer la réelle influence du barrage sur les migraticours d’eau voisin dont l’estuaire est libre, à l’aide d’un outil hydroacoustique bénéficiant de larges innovations technologiques, une caméra acoustique DIDSON. Les méthodologies développées soulignent les avantages et les limites des deux outils, mettant en lumière le gain d’information apporté par les caméras acoustiques. L’interprétation des résultats met en évidence que si le fonctionnement du barrage n’impacte pas le maintien de la population sur ce fleuve, la dynamique migratoire des saumons y est modifiée. Cette étude souligne les grandes capacités d’adaptation des saumons atlantiqu

Utilisation de la caméra acoustique DIDSON pour le suivi en rivière des poissons migrateurs

La Directive Cadre sur l’Eau (DCE, 2000) prescrit une libre circulation des poissons migrateurs sur les cours d’eau. Dans ce contexte, de nombreuses techniques d’échantillonnage sont utilisées (piégeage, filets, télémétrie, hydroacoustique,…) pour suivre l’abondance des stocks des populations et étudier la recolonisation de bassins versants par ces espèces. Parmi ces techniques, l’hydroacoustique, méthode non intrusive, permet l’observation et la description des populations de poissons en utilisant les propriétés physiques du son dans l’eau et est adaptée à une visualisation de nuit et en eaux turbides. Le DIDSON (dual-frequency identification sonar), un sonar haute fréquence, initialement mis au point en 1999 pour l’industrie militaire américaine est utilisé depuis une dizaine d’années dans le cadre d’études en écologie. La résolution des images enregistrées se rapproche de celle d’un enregistrement vidéo, permettant la visualisation de la morphologie du poisson, la description de son comportement et donc son identification spécifique

Hydroacoustique et poissons migrateurs amphihalins : analyse innovante de leur dynamique migratoire

La mise en service d'un ouvrage hydraulique a des impacts sur le milieu aquatique et ses peuplements qu’il est nécessaire de contrôler. À partir de l'étude de suivi de la migration des saumons atlantiques nécessitée par l'installation d'un nouveau barrage fluvial en baie du Mont-Saint-Michel, cet article nous démontre comment l'esprit d’innovation et la capacité de collaboration entre acteurs du territoire, chercheurs et bureau d'études ont permis de monter un projet de recherche finalisé et de mettre en œuvre une technologie innovante

Efficiency of automatic analyses of fish passages detected by an acoustic camera using Sonar5-Pro

International audienceThe acoustic camera is a non-intrusive method increasingly used to monitor fish populations. Acoustic camera data are video-like, providing information on fish behaviour and morphology helpful to discriminate fish species. However, acoustic cameras used in long-term monitoring studies generate a large amount of data, making one of the technical limitations the time spent analysing data, especially for multi-species fish communities. The specific analysis software provided for DIDSON acoustic cameras is problematic to use for large datasets. Sonar5-Pro, a popular software in freshwater studies offers several advantages due to its automatic tracking tool that follows targets moving into the detection beam and distinguishes fish from other targets. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of Sonar5-Pro for detecting and describing fish passages in a high fish diversity river in low flow conditions. The tool's accuracy was assessed by comparing Sonar5-Pro outputs with a complete manual analysis using morphological and behavioural descriptors. Ninety-eight percent of the fish moving into the detection beam were successfully detected by the software. The fish swimming direction estimation was 90% efficient. Sonar5-Pro and its automatic tracking tool have great potential as a database pre-filtering process and decrease the overall time spent on data analysis but some limits were also identified. Multi-counting issues almost doubled the true fish abundance, requiring manual operator validation. Furthermore, fish length of each tracked fish needed to be manually measured with another software (SMC). In conclusion, a combination of Sonar5-Pro and SMC software can provide reliable results with a significant reduction of manpower needed for the analysis of a long-term monitoring DIDSON dataset

Spawning activity of whitefish in a peri-alpine lake using an acoustic camera

International audienc

Un Réseau Neuronal Profond pour la Détection de Poissons Multi-Espèces Utilisant un Méthode Multi-Caméras Acoustiques

Underwater acoustic cameras are high potential devices for many applications in ecology, notably for fisheries management and monitoring. However how to extract such data into high value information without a time-consuming entire dataset reading by an operator is still a challenge. Moreover the analysis of acoustic imaging, due to its low signal-to-noise ratio, is a perfect training ground for experimenting with new approaches, especially concerning Deep Learning techniques. We present hereby a novel approach that takes advantage of both CNN (Convolutional Neural Network) and classical CV (Computer Vision) techniques, able to detect a generic class "fish" in acoustic video streams. The pipeline pre-treats the acoustic images to extract 2 features, in order to localise the signals and improve the detection performances. To ensure the performances from an ecological point of view, we propose also a two-step validation, one to validate the results of the trainings and one to test the method on a real-world scenario. The YOLOv3-based model was trained with data of fish from multiple species recorded by the two common acoustic cameras, DIDSON and ARIS, including species of high ecological interest, as Atlantic salmon or European eels. The model we developed provides satisfying results detecting almost 80% of fish and minimizing the false positive rate, however the model is much less efficient for eel detections on ARIS videos. The first CNN pipeline for fish monitoring exploiting video data from two models of acoustic cameras satisfies most of the required features. Many challenges are still present, such as the automation of fish species identification through a multiclass model. 1 However the results point a new solution for dealing with complex data, such as sonar data, which can also be reapplied in other cases where the signal-to-noise ratio is a challenge

The use of acoustic cameras in shallow waters: new hydroacoustic tools for monitoring migratory fish population. A review of DIDSON technology

International audienceEuropean Union legislation, through the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/ EC), as well as national legislation, such as the 'Grenelle Environnement' (2007) in France, requires restoration of ecological connectivity in streams to improve free circulation of migratory fish. Different methods (e.g. capture by trap or net, teleme-try, hydroacoustics) are used to evaluate the efficiency of fish passes to estimate the migratory species abundance and analyse changes in their within-river distri-butions. Among these methods, hydroacoustics is non-intrusive, allowing long-term observation and description of fish populations based on physical properties of sound in water. However, the main limit to hydroacoustic tools is their difficulty in identifying species. Initially designed for military purposes, dual-frequency identifi-cation sonar (DIDSON) has been used in environmental management for a decade. This acoustic camera uses higher frequencies and more sub-beams than common hydroacoustic tools, which improves image resolution and then enables observation of fish morphology and swimming behaviour. The ability to subtract static echoes from echograms and directly measure fish length improve the species-identification process. However, some limits have been identified, such as automatic dataset recording and the low range of the detection beam, which decreases accuracy, but efficient tools are now being developed to improve the accuracy of data recording (morphology, species identification, direction and speed). The new technological properties of acoustic cameras, such as the video-like visualization of the data, have greatly improved monitoring of diadromous fish populations (abundance, distribu-tion and behaviour), helping river and fisheries managers and researchers in mak-ing decisions